Child afraid of toys!

[graciesmom08]

Please Help! My 2yr old dd was traumatized last Easter from a stuffed monkey that unexpectedly let out a loud screach when you throw it. It startled me and I looked at her and she froze and it spooked her terribly. I comforted her right after, however, Since then she has been afraid of new toys/other stuffed animals. She hated monkeys for a while, now she is ok with them, but other certain toys with "faces" on them still scares her. She is a very bright girl who has always had strong intense emotions, so when she is upset about something, it can seem intense. We are having trouble taking her places, she does not like going to others houses with their toys, does not like the toy aisles in the stores and we are not sure what to do from here. At first we would put things away that she didnt like, but now we are trying to talk to her about them and work with her through it. I am not sure what to do, we are getting increasingly worried with the holidays coming and did not think this fear would last this long. She loves "real" animals. I should also mention she is a "highly sensitive child", she takes a while to warm up with things.

[pianojazzgirl]

I think since it's almost impossible to keep her away from toys like that until she's older (which would be one way of approaching it), you'll need to give her some gentle exposure to them with you there to comfort her and help her work through her fears.

What about starting by showing her pictures of toys like that (online or in catalogs I guess). Maybe that would be a way to expose her to them that wouldn't be too scary? And then, I don't know, maybe borrow a toy like that from a friend to bring home. Hold her close while you look at it together. Maybe have dh hold it across the room or something at first, then work up to bringing it to her to touch. Once she's comfortable you could try borrowing a different but similar toy. See if you can work your way up to a trip to the toy store or to a friend's house who has lots of toys like that. Just by being around them enough without them doing anything "scary" she should be able to get over her fear.

Good luck mama!

[jenfl]

My daughter is similar. She absolutely HATES "noisy toys" or any toy that moves or acts on its own. Things have gotten slowly better (she's 3.5).

I'm trying to think of what we did to slowly help her.... well, we always back off if something in a store scares her. Afterward, though, we talk it through. If she will put up with it, we'll let her watch the toy from far away. We don't keep any "scary" toys in the house.

Since she turned 3, she's just been braver. I think it's just a growing-up thing. We managed to find a toy that made noise that she was ok with (a phone with buttons that sing) and that helped a bit.

But, yeah. We still have to detour parts of Target because of the moving Bigfoot toy or something similar.

[Kuba'sMama]

My son used to be scared of noisy toys as well (he got scared by a little meowing stuffed cat). He eventually got better, although later than most pp's mentioned (probably around 4). He doesn't mind loud toys at all now, but he's always had more fears than his peers and still does now (scared of the dark, etc). He is also highly sensitive. From my experience, as he grows out of one fear,it is unfortunately replaced by another.

[graciesmom08]

thanks everyone, that is the route we are beginning to take. I just wanted to see if everyone thought that was the right route. Its a tough situation, hard to avoid!!

[heartmama]

I think we have that same monkey toy and it really is freakish sounding. Whenever we throw it our cats practically trip over their feet racing out of the room to hide. If you are not expecting that noise it sounds like something scary is about to happen.

I am sorry that happened to her! I would just focus on toys she does enjoy and keep your response neutral and lighthearted regarding other toys. You can't really avoid stuffed toys totally, and it may just take a long time for her to get past this fear.

[mom2happy]

Oh my gosh! We had that monkey toy. It made my DS hysterical and terrified.
Someone threw it behind a couch and we found it when DS was 4 and it still really upset him. He liked when the last time he had to hear it was when I chucked in the dumpster outside.
He did not like any buzzing shaking toys either. He is 5 now and still affected by sounds. He is affected deeply by certain melodies.
He is also incredibly muscial and can remember rythms and songs after he's heard it only once. So now when I look back and remember thinking how strange his reactions were, I attribute it to him being artistic.

[graciesmom08]

I am so happy to hear that someone knows what monkey I am talking about to realize the fear it gave her. My dd is very "spirited" so when she experiences any emotions like that, it can be intense. I need to remind myself to remain peaceful to bring her more peace! Also, mom2happy, thank you for mentioning, she also seems to be "artistic" as well, even at this young age!

[babygirlie]

Vibrating toys scared the crud out of my very solemn quiet baby. Never seen her truck so fast towards me in my life. She would avoid it, kick it, then one day she wasn't afraid and that's when it broke soon after.

I had a Ronald McDonald doll as a child. It had a zipper a velcro thingy a shoelace, learning type of toy doll. I have nightmares of that doll to this day. I can see it's evil ronald mcdonald face in my head. I had to hide it in my mom's room before i went to my room every night. I was sure there was a bomb in there. Some toys just need to be burned...

[4evermom]

Poor kid! That would have freaked out my ds, too. Of course we couldn't go in any stores from the end of August through October because of the animated Halloween displays...

We avoided having scary things in the home and just took everything else as it came as calmly as possible. Some toys you can take apart and show the speaker and batteries to the child (and then take out the batteries) but, at that age, they aren't quite able to get that emotionally even after they can understand on an intellectual level that the toy won't work. When he was three, Ds was afraid of my brothers stereo speakers that weren't even hooked up to anything because of how speakers sometimes pick up truck drivers radios as they drive past. He always startled easily.

Three is a big age for fears for many children and it eases off after that. So expect this to take a while since your dd is getting an early start at two.